The Iraqi Spokesman of the Health Ministry said that the number of deaths was increasing. The U.S. army did not make any statement about the blast.
The first reaction to this blast came from British Foreign Minister Jack Straw who condemned the suicide attack. Straw said that this attack which was carried out with a bomb-loaded vehicle was directly towards the Iraqi nation and it aimed at preventing the transfer of power to the Iraqis at the end of this month.
He said; The terrorists try to render terror actions just, by saying that they are opposed to the occupation. However, the occupation will end in 12 days. Now, they are trying to impede the hand-over of power.
Straw said that the attacks were not to frustrate them and the power was to be handed over to the Iraqis.
